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Waving the Geek Flags: Jurassic World's JazzLand Makeover

Posted
Saturday, June 13th, 2015

Jurassic World managed to secure a spot in box office history after just 24 hours. The reboot of Steven Spielberg’s mid Nineties blockbusters raked in 82.8 million dollars on opening day, placing it this all time. However, locals will be more interested in the locale than the numbers. The theme park setting for the film is actually a made-over Six Flags New Orleans.

Although trips to the abandoned park have become a rite of passage amongst the hipster set, the creepy carnival is not as unscathed as it appears. Production companies have used the space as set regularly since 2011 and taken cares to wrangle wildlife, provide some basic maintenance, utility work, and of course, some serious restylings of the decor.

Jurassic World spent nine weeks filming at the location last summer. While the film’s fictional park is located at Isla Nuba, the actual set used Six Flags as a skeleton to build the movie’s dino-themed fun park.

The careful observer will notice that Jurassic World has something that NOLA will soon lack: a Margaritaville restaurant.

Originally opened as JazzLand in 2000, Six Flags took over the park in 2003.

The Federal Flood ruined the facility and gave us the iconic Bob McMillan/FEMA photograph below. Despite plans ranging from a new park to an outlet mall, the spot sat dormant until film crews embraced the open space four years ago.

The last time that the park appeared on the big screen was in Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters.